The cover of Charles Bukowski’s short story, ‘Bring Me Your Love’ illustrated by R. Crumb.
 
The seemingly logical collaboration of the great R. Crumb and transgressive writer and poet Charles Bukowski finally became a reality in the early part of the 80s when Crumb created illustrations for two of Bukowski’s short stories, Bring Me Your Love (1983) and There’s No Business (1984).
 

An illustration from ‘There’s No Business’ by R. Crumb.
 
Crumb’s illustrations give the already gritty storylines of both stories visual context—such as a man who looks much like Buk wrestling on the floor with his “wife” after a dispute involving answering the phone or various barroom skirmishes depicting a Bukowski-looking character running amok. The pair would collaborate once again in 1998 (four years after Bukowski’s passing in 1994) with Crumb illustrating a collection of excerpts from Bukowski’s diary, specifically passages from the year prior to his death, The Captain Is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship. Many of Crumb’s illustrations from all three publications, as well as a few other cartoons images of Charles Bukowski drawn by Crumb follow.
 

 

 

 

 

The cover for Charles Bukowski’s short story, ‘There’s No Business’ illustrated by R. Crumb.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Bukowski at Home,’ R. Crumb, 1996.
 

An illustration by R. Crumb of Charles Bukowski on the cover of the May 1990 edition of Olympia, Washington based counter-culture magazine, ‘Northwest Extra!’
 
Hat tip to Everlasting Blort

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Baby Charles Bukowski, André the Giant, Frank Sinatra and other rebels hanging at the beach